Corrosion inhibition behavior of electrochemically synthesized carbon dots on Q235 carbon steel

Carbon dots (CDs) are spherical zero-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, generally below 10 nm in size, which have received increasing attention in the field of corrosion because of various advantages such as good water solubility, abundant raw materials, and environmental protection. In this work, water-soluble carbon dots (CDs) with particle sizes of 5–10 nm are obtained by electrochemical oxidation with anhydrous ethanol. FTIR, Raman, UV–Vis, XPS, and TEM are used to characterize the obtained CDs, and electrochemical tests are used to investigate the anti-corrosion performance of the CDs. The results reveal that the corrosion inhibition performance increased with the addition of CDs, and the highest corrosion inhibition efficiency reaches 98% when the addition amount is 200 mg/L. Moreover, the inhibition mechanism for CDs needs to be further investigated, and the stable adsorption of CDs on carbon steel to form adsorption film may be the key factor for its good corrosion inhibition performance.